"Right away I got that Something About To Happen feeling. Right away I knew he was bad, and that it didn't matter."
It is summer in the Northwest town of Nine Mile Falls, and sixteen-year-old Ruby McQueen, ordinarily dubbed The Quiet Girl, finds herself hanging out with gorgeous, rich, thrill-seeking Travis Becker. But Ruby is in over her head, and finds she is risking more and more when she's with him.
In an effort to keep Ruby occupied, Ruby's mother Ann drags Ruby to the weekly book club she runs. When it is discovered that one of the group''s own members is the subject of the tragic love story they are reading, Ann and Ruby spearhead a reunion between the long-ago lovers. But for Ruby, this mission turns out to be much more than just a road trip....
Review
7/10
There were really only two downsides to this book, and the rest of it I completely loved. I'm going to start by talking about some of the best parts of the book.
I really loved The Casserole Queens. They were such an interesting, funny and quirky group of people, and I really liked the way that being around them influenced Ruby.
I enjoyed the road trip aspect, as I most usually do with books that contain road trips.
I really loved the sweet story of Lillian and the reunion, and the slightly batty scheme to reunite her with her long lost love. It was light hearted, and sweet and perfect for a summer read.
I liked Chip Junior and how he interacted with everyone. I thought he was a really interesting character.
I liked how much growth Ruby had during the course of the novel, and how different people played different roles in getting her to where she was by the ending.
Now for the two things that I didn't love about this novel.
The first has to do with the pacing. Reading the back of this book you're expecting it to be about this road trip which 'turns out to be much more than just a road trip...' and that got me really excited, so I was disappointed when it took more than half of the book to actually get to the road trip. I just felt there was a little too much building up, and so the first half felt a little slow.
The second thing was Ruby. I found her character a little hard to read. The main reason for this is because of how she behaved around Travis. She barely knew him, and what she did know of him was mostly all bad, and yet he seems to have this huge amount of power over her. I think I would have believed it more if she'd known him longer, had developed an attachment and then started seeing him for who he really was, and found it hard to break away from him. As it stood, I kind of didn't buy that he'd have such a huge influence on her from the amount they knew each other.
Overall, this is a really good book and I would defiitely recommend it. It's a fantastic read for summer, and it's sure to have you smiling and laughing.
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